Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 373 X1 aircraft ready for first flight
The update has been completed, 1.4 words!
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While Xu Shenxue and a few others were chatting, many staff members were also carrying out various preparations.

After all, this is the first maiden flight of the X1 project, and there are many unknowns, so they must make every possible effort.

In order to maintain confidentiality, the maiden flight was specially chosen in a weather condition with cloud cover over the airport.

It is not convenient to observe the aircraft's posture at night, but if the sky is clear, the aircraft can be easily photographed by satellite on the runway, so we can only choose a normal weather with large clouds blocking the view.

As soon as the plane takes off and leaves the airport, it is not easy for the satellite to capture this extremely special-shaped drone.

After all, many reconnaissance satellites in space generally keep an eye on airports. As long as the plane is not photographed on the airport runway, the problem is not too big.

Furthermore, in order to maintain confidentiality, the project was actually disguised as a conventional remote-controlled stealth drone. In the event that some information was leaked, the worst that could happen was that it would be promoted as a remote-controlled stealth drone.

After all, remote-controlled drones and artificial intelligence fighter jets are actually difficult to distinguish in appearance, so they can be used to confuse audiences.

Although remote-controlled stealth drones are also very important and will spark a lot of discussion when they are announced, they are nothing compared to artificial intelligence fighter jets.

After all, a large stealth drone has already made its maiden flight and been announced, and there are a lot of videos of it on the Internet.

From a confidentiality perspective, disguising the X1 project as a remote-controlled stealth drone is a more reliable solution.

As for keeping it completely secret... that's unlikely to let the outside world know anything about it.

At this stage, we can still fly to this remote small airport to conduct a confidential first flight, but when conducting more various flight tests in the future, it will be impossible to keep it secret every time. As long as the weather is good and the plane appears on the airport runway, satellites of other countries will take high-definition ground images as soon as possible.

If the flight test is carried out at some regular test flight airport, all kinds of videos will be flying all over the sky at the first time.

So it would be better to confuse the outside world and tell the outside world that this is a remote-controlled stealth drone... As for why this drone has air intakes on both sides, why it is so large and has a diamond layout like a fighter, rather than the flying wing plus air intake layout commonly used by attack aircraft and bombers?

If it is a drone fighter, how to solve the communication delay and remotely control a fighter drone that has extremely high requirements for communication delay.

Why so many whys!
Anyway, it’s true or false, believe it or not!
While the engineering team was making final preparations, Xu Shenxue and people from the partner companies who came to watch the test flight also left the building and came to the hangar to see the artificial intelligence fighter once again.

Seeing this plane again, Xu Shenxue couldn't help but sigh in his heart. This thing looks so sci-fi.

Its appearance is more sci-fi than almost all known aircraft today.

The flat diamond layout without a vertical tail, designed for all-directional stealth, is a major feature of many previous stealth bombers and stealth unmanned attack aircraft...but this is the first time that the X1 team has used this diamond layout on a fighter jet that has very high requirements for maneuverability.

Moreover, there are air intakes on both sides. With these air intakes placed here, anyone with a little knowledge of aviation will know that this is not a bomber/attack aircraft, but a fighter with good maneuverability.

The diamond layout without a vertical tail plus the air intakes on both sides... Just by taking a glance at the appearance, you can tell that this is definitely a stealth fighter. There is absolutely no second possibility.

If it had a cockpit...it could definitely be called a sixth-generation fighter!

But the X1 has no cockpit, so it is not a manned fighter.

So whether it can be judged as a sixth-generation aircraft is a controversial issue.

Some people think that drones can also be considered sixth-generation aircraft; but some people believe that only manned fighter jets can be considered sixth-generation aircraft, and drones are just a coordinated combat unit of manned aircraft.

As for what the sixth-generation aircraft is, it will take time to give an answer!

At this time, a person in charge of the X1 project came up and introduced the aircraft to everyone. This time he did not use too many messy professional terms that people could not understand, but just talked about some general things.

"Our X1 project adopts a diamond-shaped layout without a vertical tail and a highly flat fuselage, with the jet nozzle placed upward and an integrated large central built-in ammunition bay with sufficient space to accommodate various missiles."

"The size of the whole aircraft is 17.5 meters long and 14.3 meters wide. The maximum take-off weight can reach 36 tons, the bomb load can reach 8.5 tons, and the maximum range is 3,800 kilometers."

"The new generation of engines enables our X1 project to have a maximum speed of more than Mach and the ability to supercruise for a short period of time. However, if we want to supercruise for a long time, we still need to wait for the new generation of engines to be put into service. After the new engines are put into service, the maximum take-off weight, payload and supercruise and other technical indicators will be greatly improved."

Hearing this, Xu Shenxue thought for a moment and said to a person in charge next to him: "If the new engine encounters difficulties in research and development, such as some subsystems, materials and other issues, I also have many companies under my command that are engaged in various new materials and technologies. Who knows, there may be materials and technologies that are suitable."

As for the hardware part of this project, Xu Shenxue's previous companies did not participate much, and they were more involved in the sensor field. After all, some sensors are semiconductor sensors, and in the field of semiconductor sensors, Zhiyun Group claims to be second, and no one would dare to claim to be first.

In addition, it provided a variety of new materials, but Xu Shenxue was not quite sure where these new materials were used.

However, since I heard that the other party's development of the new engine would take some time, I took the initiative to say a few words.

Forget about directly taking over and leading the engine research and development... because the scientific research system under Xu Shenxue can only be used in a company controlled by Xu Shenxue.

Non-holding companies cannot use the quota of the scientific research system to provide additional support for these R&D engineers.

Moreover, Xu Shenxue had also tried the labor dispatch model before... that is, he would add his own engineers to the scientific research quota and then dispatch them to other companies for research and development. Unfortunately, the system did not allow loopholes to be exploited, and the quota was temporarily invalidated.

Due to the special nature of the engine, it is impossible to entrust the entire research and development to the company under Xu Shenxue, which is not in accordance with the rules.

Therefore, if Xu Shenxue wants to provide some assistance in these areas, he can only deal with some subsystems, parts, and materials.

Hearing what Xu Shenxue said, a person in charge of a nearby cooperative manufacturer was quite interested: "We do have some difficulties in engine research and development. After all, no matter how good an engine is, it is not good enough. Problems will always exist!"

"Let's work together again and see if we can do better!"

Xu Shenxue said: "Okay, I will send a technical team to contact you at that time. No matter what your needs are, just raise them. Whether it can be done is another matter. But what if it happens, right!"

Xu Shenxue said, "It's not just in the engine field. If there is demand in other areas, we can also ask for it, especially in the semiconductor field and the computer field. We are quite confident in this area."

The other party said: "That's great, I will send a team to contact you later!"

Xu Shenxue said he is confident, but in fact, in the fields of semiconductors and computers, including software, Zhiyun Group is the undisputed number one in China, and is far ahead of other companies.

At the same time, several other companies under his control also have great advantages in many aspects. For example, Nanmen Aerospace, although it is just an aerospace company, aerospace and aviation are inseparable, and many technologies in the aerospace field can also be used in the aviation field.

Next is HaiLian Automobile. Although it is just a civilian car manufacturer, it develops smart electric cars, a serious high-tech field, and is not a traditional car manufacturer in the conventional sense.

Hailan Automobile has rich technical accumulation in many fields such as intelligent control, batteries, motors, situational awareness, etc.

For example, the laser radar used by Hailan Automobile is self-developed. Its subsidiary responsible for laser radar has unique technology in the field of laser radar in the world. The laser radar of this subsidiary is not only used in civilian equipment such as automobiles... but also in special fields, such as drones and ground unmanned mobile terminals.

Many of the technologies developed by Hailan Automobile Company have actually been widely used in other fields.

There is also Xiannvshan Holdings. Although it only engages in semiconductor equipment and consumables, if you look deeper, they are actually engaged in ultra-high precision equipment. They have many various technology and material research and development projects, and many of the underlying technologies and materials can be used in other fields.

Therefore, there are really a lot of good things in these companies under Xu Shenxue.

While everyone was listening to the introduction and chatting, Xu Shenxue also followed everyone and walked around the plane.

At the same time, the person in charge of the X1 project continued: "In terms of positioning, ours is considered a medium-sized artificial intelligence multi-purpose fighter. While it has traditional air combat capabilities, it also has the ability to conduct long-distance raids in high-threat airspace and strike enemy deep air defense nodes and command nodes."

"At the same time, with the integration of the X system, the aircraft can receive and integrate a large amount of information data from friendly units, including conventional satellite data, low-orbit satellite data, friendly aircraft data, early warning aircraft data, and ground or sea surface unit data."

"In theory, the aircraft does not even need to turn on its own radar. With the data support of friendly units, it can pass through high-threat airspace and strike target units."

When Xu Shenxue heard this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up. The low-orbit satellite data here was provided by the low-orbit satellite network of Zhiyun Satellite under his command.

The low-orbit satellite developed by Xu Shenxue only provides civilian Internet connectivity as part of its functions. In fact, this thing also has various reconnaissance capabilities... It is not difficult to put a high-definition camera or an infrared camera on such a small satellite.

It’s just that they won’t be turned on when it’s not necessary. When it’s really necessary, a command will be given and these satellites will turn on the above-mentioned reconnaissance equipment to provide massive satellite reconnaissance data.

Just think about it, tens of thousands of small low-orbit satellites spread across the globe, carrying out comprehensive monitoring of every corner of the globe. The picture would be quite beautiful!
At the same time, it is more important to provide data support services for various mobile devices, such as vehicles on the ground, ships on the sea, and airplanes in the air.

After all, in Xu Shenxue's vision, the low-altitude rail network provides support services for a large number of unmanned vehicles and drones. It is an important data support network for building the entire unmanned transportation network. This is its core function.

As for satellite Internet...that is just an early commercial measure.

In this case, it is inevitable that this low-orbit satellite has multiple functions.

Similarly, since this capability can be used for various civilian equipment, it can naturally be used for various military equipment...

Among the many drone plans, Zhiyun Satellite's low-orbit satellite data support is an indispensable part... Even if it only serves as satellite communications, it is more reliable than medium and high altitude communication satellites.

Because Zhiyun Satellite's low-orbit satellite flies at a lower altitude and is closer to the ground, data latency is also lower, and the data transmission volume is also larger.

The X1 project drone in front of us is also connected to Zhiyun Satellite's low-orbit satellite network, but the scale of Zhiyun Satellite's low-orbit satellite network is not large at present, and its current role is not great... But in the future, when Zhiyun Satellite has sent tens of thousands of satellites up, its role will be much greater.

"Our X1 project has the ability to cooperate with ground command centers and even manned fighter jets!"

"You can effectively command a manned aircraft equipped with a control and command system and perform various tasks according to the instructions of the manned aircraft!"

"In order to conduct this test, we also modified a two-seat fighter and configured a control system in the rear cockpit to serve as the command aircraft for this test flight and subsequent test flights."

As the explanation continued, Xu Shenxue noticed that on the other side of the hangar, there was a model that looked like a twin-engine medium-sized aircraft. He hadn't paid much attention to it just now. It was just an old plane. It was still quite new a dozen years ago, but now...what's so good about it?

Now that it was said to be a modified command aircraft, he became interested and took a closer look.

But after taking a few more glances, I still don’t feel anything: she is already a teenage Niu lady, no matter how she changes, she will be just like that…

However, he still attached great importance to the crew members. He followed several other people and went forward to greet the crew members.

After the greetings, Xu Shenxue still wanted to say a few words out of habit, such as something about the flight being successful and a big bonus... But the words stopped at his lips because the occasion was not right and the person was not right.

Forget it. These matters will naturally be taken care of by the partners, so there is no need for Xu Shenxue to do anything unnecessary.

After walking around and carefully looking at the two planes, Xu Shenxue and several others went to the building next door to wait.

The test flight engineering team is making final preparations.

About an hour later, someone reported that all preparations had been completed, the cloud conditions outside were good and could effectively block satellites from space, there were no problems in the area around the airport, and the X1 drone of the X1001 project had passed all pre-flight tests.

The conditions for the test flight are already in place and the test flight will start on time in fifteen minutes.

Immediately, Xu Shenxue followed the others to the control center. At first glance, the control center looked a bit like a space launch command center, with a large screen in the front and many small screens on both sides. There were dozens of engineers staring at various data on the screens, and more than half of them were engineers from Zhiyun Group.

Xu Shenxue and the others were just bystanders, so they didn't disturb their work and just stood behind and watched.

"Check the system status one last time!"

"The intelligent control center is running stably. The X system has started and completed the self-check. The inspection mode is activated!"

"The body motion attitude sensing module has completed self-test and is in good condition."

"The fuselage flight control module has completed self-inspection and is in good condition."

"Data communication is intact, System X has connected to the control center, turning on the comprehensive data connection mode!"

"The Zhiyun satellite system has been connected, the B23 mode has been activated, and the first batch of six perception satellites have changed orbits and are on standby!"

"The fuselage radar and optoelectronic sensing module have been activated, and the sensing data has been connected to the X system!"

"Simulated early warning command radar data and simulated early warning aircraft data have been connected to the X system."

"Enter the combat system authorization code!"

"Enter the security system authorization code!"

"Enter the secondary security system authorization code!"

"Authorization code input completed, System X has been authorized!"

.........

As many people reported, Xu Shenxue and others also looked at the big screen.

At this time, a virtual avatar appeared on the big screen, and then a synthesized voice came: "Hello everyone, X1001 has entered standby mode!"

Hearing this synthesized voice, Xu Shenxue felt a little excited, and an elderly man from a cooperative manufacturer next to him even breathed faster.

He took a few deep breaths before speaking: "I am ***, with level one authority and authorization code *****. I now order X1001 to carry out the first flight mission and hand over the command to the escort crew!"

The synthesized voice came again: "Authentication passed, authorization code passed, command confirmed, executing the first flight mission, command is handed over to the escort crew!"

Afterwards, a shot of the crew who had boarded the accompanying observation and command aircraft appeared on the small screen on the other side, and the back-seat pilot confirmed that he had taken over the command of X1001.

Crew member: "The escort crew has taken over the command of X1001!"

Afterwards, the escort crew began to confirm various situations with the tower, then started the engine, left the hangar and onto the runway.

Subsequently, the X1001 UAV also started its engine and entered the runway following the escort aircraft.

In the command center, one could also hear the conversation between the command pilot of the accompanying crew and the X1001 aircraft.

Crew member: "X1001, ensure safe distance, watch the runway!"

X1001: "X1001 received. I am heading for the runway. I am meters away from the command aircraft. Please confirm that there are no foreign objects on the runway!"

Crew member: "X1001, perform another self-check to confirm that all subsystems are functioning properly. Report any abnormalities immediately!"

X1001: "X1001 received."

A few seconds later, X1001's voice sounded again: "System self-check completed, all subsystems function intact and without abnormality."

Crew member: "X1001, contact the tower according to the procedure. If everything is normal, follow me to take off!"

At this time, the tower commanders also joined in... To be honest, this situation made even the senior tower commanders a little nervous.

I have commanded countless aircraft takeoffs and landings in my life, but this is the first time I have commanded artificial intelligence to take off and land an aircraft... I am somewhat nervous.

Tower: "X1001, the airport data has been transmitted, please confirm!"

X1001: "Airport data has been copied!"

The accompanying flight crew: "Tower, our aircraft is ready. X1001 reports that there is nothing unusual and is ready for a test flight. I apply for takeoff to carry out the X1001 test flight mission!"

Tower: "Received, X1001, please confirm the status, can we take off and perform the test flight mission?"

X1001: "Confirmed to be in good condition, ready to take off and perform test flight mission!"

Tower: "Companion aircraft, X1001, cleared for takeoff!"

As the tower gave the order to take off, the two fighter planes from different eras, which were already quite far apart on the runway but lined up side by side, also began to accelerate!
The fighter planes accelerated extremely quickly, and soon they reached take-off speed and took off into the air!

At this time, images of the two aircraft taken by high-definition and high-magnification cameras also appeared in the command center. Of course, the more important ones were the multi-angle images of the X1001 drone.

At the same time, there are also pictures taken from the upper side by the crew members of the accompanying aircraft.

The X1 fighter in the air has a very graceful posture, and the whole thing looks like a leaf, which seems unreal at first glance.

At this time, the escort crew said, "Control Center, it's flying beautifully. The takeoff procedure is almost the standard procedure we simulated before, without any mistakes!"

Command Center: "Continue to conduct escort command and carry out the scheduled test flight subjects. This is the first flight. Ensure safety!"

Next, under the observation and command of the escort crew, the X1001 UAV performed numerous test flight subjects.

However, since it was the first maiden flight, there were no complicated flying maneuvers in the overall flight subjects. The first maiden flight was to verify the basic flight performance of the aircraft... to see if it could fly!
Unlike the first test flights of many manned aircraft, the first test flight of the X1 project also tested the performance of the X system.

In the past, there were all kinds of simulation tests, and the X system performed perfectly, but how could we know if it would work unless we actually tried it once?

And now, initially, it seems that the X system perfectly controls the X1, an extremely maneuverable aircraft, and the flying attitude is very perfect.

The images taken by the accompanying crew were transmitted to the command center. The flying attitude of the entire X1 aircraft was very stable... This is not easy for an aircraft without a vertical tail.

Not to mention that this is an AI-controlled aircraft.

In addition to verifying basic flight postures, the X1001 aircraft is also testing many other projects at the same time, such as situational awareness, data communications and other aspects.

The power of the X system lies not in simply controlling the aircraft, but in its ability to process information.

Relying on powerful data processing chips to form an intelligent control center, the X system has extremely powerful data processing capabilities... To a certain extent, the X1 aircraft is actually just a server stuffed into the sky.

The size and power supply capacity of the X1 aircraft are also sufficient to run the X system!

During these many tests, the escort crew could not see or understand the data, as a large amount of data was directly transmitted to the control center.

These data will be analyzed and processed, and then simply reported to the personnel in the command center. However, more data will be used as valuable test data for later analysis and comparison, and for continuous improvement of the X1 project and even the X project.

Therefore, from the moment X1001 was launched into space, a huge amount of valuable data had been collected.

At this time, Xu Shenxue picked up a telescope from the windowsill and looked at the two planes in the sky. One was an old two-seater plane with a yellow paint job. This one was nothing interesting so he just skipped it.

The other one is the gray-painted X1001. Looking from below, the entire aircraft looks a bit like a leaf flying in the sky.

But its speed is very fast!
The rumbling sound of the jet engine continued to be heard in my ears. If I was not careful, it would be difficult to catch sight of the fighter plane.

This is a direct line of sight view, so many people present can actually see the plane flying!

However, in a thunder tower station dozens of kilometers away, a group of people who were ordered to carry out a confidential mission had very complicated expressions at this time.

In a small room at the back, two high-level personnel were whispering:

"Are you sure the new plane is in the air? We didn't see it on the radar at all, we only saw the accompanying plane!"

"Even if the new plane is a stealth plane, it can't escape our radar detection at this distance. We have the latest radar. Even if other stealth fighters are at such a close distance, we won't be completely blinded!"

"Even if the front is undetectable, what about the sides and the tail? It can't always be facing us in the air, right?"

Another person said: "It has been confirmed that it has taken off, but why it cannot be detected? Don't ask me, I don't know!"

The ordinary personnel in the radar station just followed the order to carefully search a certain airspace, and naturally did not know what they were searching for, or even that there was a target. This is the advantage of the diamond layout without a vertical tail, plus the highly flat fuselage. This fuselage, coupled with stealth coating, can achieve omnidirectional stealth, which is a qualitative leap compared to the stealth performance of previous fifth-generation aircraft.

This omnidirectional stealth not only has stealth performance in different radar bands, but also has good stealth capabilities on the sides, bottom, and even the tail.

Back in the test flight command center, Xu Shenxue continued to look at the plane in the sky through a telescope. Some other people around him did the same thing, looking up at the X1001 plane flying back and forth in the sky.

In other words, today's flight was just the first flight. The flying speed was not very fast and the altitude was not high, so they could still see it with binoculars. If it was flying at high speed and altitude, they would not be able to see the plane at all.

The entire flight test lasted about twenty minutes, and then the aircraft began to enter the return procedure. X1001 landed first, followed by the accompanying crew.

After landing, X1001 returned directly to the hangar, and then a large number of engineers began to conduct various inspections on the aircraft.

Next comes various data analyses, which are rather boring.

After Xu Shenxue had a casual chat with several heads of the cooperative manufacturers, they had lunch together, then he took another look at the X project team before leaving on a business jet.

Watching the test flight today, the overall feeling is pretty good. The X project team did not disappoint his expectations. The X system they developed is pretty good. At least it did not fail in the first flight, and it demonstrated very good performance.

As for the X1 aircraft, it was a project of a cooperative manufacturer and had little to do with Xu Shenxue.

Xu Shenxue also knew that if nothing unexpected happened, two more drones would be tested in the next six months, namely the X2 project and the X3 project.

The cooperating manufacturers attached great importance to the entire X plan. In order to be foolproof, they launched three projects at once and then conducted internal comparisons. In the end, if nothing unexpected happens, only one project should win and continue to move forward. The other two failed projects will be put into technical storage and the technology will be used for other projects.

Of course, it is also possible to carry out two drone projects at the same time, such as one focusing on multi-purpose fighters and one focusing on attack aircraft, and so on.

The specific details still depend on the plans of the cooperating manufacturers. Anyway, Zhiyun Group is only responsible for providing the research and development and system integration of the X system. As for what kind of aircraft to use this X system, that is the other party's business.

Anyway, the X system is an "advanced artificial intelligence fighter system" that can be used on all kinds of fighters, and in theory it can even be used on bombers and transport aircraft.

As long as the aircraft is compatible and can meet the operational requirements of the X system, any type of aircraft will do.

Xu Shenxue returned to Shenzhen in a happy mood. As it was still early, he did not go home directly, but went to Secretary Li and others, where there were many secretaries and several children.

Xu Shenxue would also take time to accompany them.

After Xu Shenxue went to Secretary Li's place, he also saw Secretary Jin and Secretary Qian, each with their children there.

These three early secretaries had known each other for a long time and had frequent interactions with each other. They could not be said to have the best relationship, but due to time constraints, they naturally had more contact and often stayed together.

After Xu Shen learned it, he first played with the children for a while, and then ate with his family. While eating, he also listened to them talking about some trivial matters in their family life.

But no one would talk about any really annoying family gossip, they just talk about interesting things.

Xu Shenxue stayed here until the next day, and the next day he went to Secretary Song's place next door.

Secretary Song was a latecomer. She came from a wealthy family and was Lin Yaxian's cousin. Therefore, she had trouble fitting in this small group of secretaries and there were not many people she got along well with.

In addition, perhaps due to her personality and other reasons, she was not willing to play with Secretary Li and the others, so she seemed a little lonely in her daily life.

She is pregnant recently, and Xu Shenxue tries his best to make time to accompany her.

After spending most of the day with Secretary Song, Xu Shenxue left after lunch. He first went to the company to handle some daily affairs.

After get off work in the evening, he returned to the Xu family villa to accompany Lin Yaxian and the two children.

The next day, in the headquarters park of Zhiyun Group, after Xu Shenxue finished dealing with some documents that had been squeezed in over the past two days, he turned around and went downstairs to the R&D department as he had nothing to do.

Recently, we have been paying more attention to robot and drone projects, and less attention to the company's core project, which is the mobile phone business.

When I remembered, I went downstairs to check out the development progress of the new generation of S series mobile phones, which is the S7 phone expected to be released next year.

Zhiyun Group's research and development of various models of mobile phones is not to start the research and development of new models after the release of old models. This would not give enough time. In the field of mobile phones, Zhiyun Group actually adopts a parallel research and development model.

That is to say, the technical routes of each subsystem are developed simultaneously and in parallel. For example, for the 3D face recognition module, when the project team was developing the second-generation face recognition module, it had also started the preliminary development of the third-generation face recognition module.

This is true for subsystems, and the entire mobile phone is no exception.

The S17 mobile phone project was actually launched last year, and some main technical routes and design parameters were determined.

After more than a year of preliminary research and development, the current S17 mobile phone has actually completed the prototype development and entered the late research and development mode. After the prototype is completed, various tests and integrations will be carried out for several months. At the same time, it will cooperate with Weiku Industrial to carry out production line development and technical research.

If nothing unexpected happens, all this work will be completed in June, and then mass production and stocking mode will be started.

So when Xu Shenxue came to the S series mobile phone project team, he saw the S17 mobile phone whose prototype had already been developed.

"Our phone continues to use the notch screen, but the notch is smaller, and the overall appearance looks more harmonious and beautiful!"

"This is because the size of our third-generation 3D facial recognition module has been greatly reduced, so the area of ​​the notch screen can be greatly reduced!"

"For the screen, we will use the new generation of OLED screen from Huaxing Technology to continue to maintain our technological advantage!"

“In addition, we will use the triple-camera mode for the first time in the MAX model, further strengthening our advantages in the imaging field!”

At this time, Xu Shenxue was looking at the S17 MAX prototype in his hand. This S17MAX prototype is not much different from the S16MAX from the front, except that the notch screen is smaller and the screen size is still six inches. There is also a MAX Pro model next to it, which continues to use inches.

Xie Jianyong said to Xu Shenxue: "The combination of six inches and six and a half inches is the standard combination of Zhiyun S series phones in the S16 series. The size is just right, especially the six-inch version. The screen is large enough and it feels comfortable to hold. It has received good feedback from consumers!"

"At the same time, our S17 series to be released next year will continue to use a combination of six-inch and -inch screens."

"We also have a three-camera solution in the S17MAX series. Mr. Xu, please look at the back. The rear camera of the S17MAX adopts a square camera layout on the upper left side. There are three cameras, namely a main camera with a focal length of 26mm and an aperture of f/1.8, a wide-angle camera with a focal length of 13mm and an aperture of f/2.4, and a telephoto camera with a focal length of 52mm and an aperture of f/2.4."

"With our leading position in the field of shooting algorithms, the triple camera can provide our mobile phones with more powerful camera functions. In our tests, the photos taken by our mobile phones are of very good quality, and the imaging effect for video shooting is also very good. We have also adjusted the shooting algorithm and set up a movie shooting style mode to further strengthen the advantages of our mobile phones in the field of imaging!"

"In addition, the camera module also has a dual-color temperature mountain light and a laser radar sensor for ranging and focusing."

Xu Shenxue pays great attention to this three-camera module. In fact, photography has always been the strong point of Zhiyun mobile phones. Even in the early years of the C1 and S9 mobile phones, the photography technology of its main competitor, Fruit, was even worse.

After the S10 mobile phone was released, Zhiyun Group's shooting technology advantage emerged through continuous improvement of shooting algorithms.

Later, a dual-camera mode was launched and a telephoto camera was introduced.

Plus various intelligent shooting modes, such as portrait mode, sports mode and so on.

This has enabled Zhiyun phones to maintain a leading position in the field of photography for a long time. Many live broadcasters, photography enthusiasts, and even professionals like to use Zhiyun's S series phones for various shooting purposes.

Of course, this S series specifically refers to the flagship high-end models. The high-end models of the Zhiyun S series generally use higher-end cameras and have better image quality.

Today, the S series project team has adopted three cameras on the S17MAX mobile phone, and the cameras used are also one generation more advanced in technology and have better imaging quality.

The only drawback is that this camera is still a Sony camera.

Nanjiang Technology, which is controlled by Xiannvshan Holdings under Xu Shenxue, produces good high-end cameras, which have been used in the C series and SX series. It also supplies many other domestic mobile phone manufacturers, but it is still a little short of the requirements of the S series.

This camera module is one of the few in the entire S series of mobile phones that uses imported components, but there is no need to worry about being stuck.

Although the quality of the mobile phone cameras made by Nanjiang Technology, which is controlled by Xiannvshan, is a bit poor, they are actually usable if they are really needed. They will just affect the photography quality of the S series mobile phones to a certain extent, and thus affect their reputation.

After all, Zhiyun Group's S series of mobile phones have long been ahead of its competitors in the field of photography. In addition to its software strength, it naturally needs to do its best in hardware such as cameras.

Therefore, there is still some way to go before Southern Optics' high-end cameras can be used in Zhiyun's S series mobile phones.

However, even if it cannot take over the market share of the S series mobile phones, Nanjiang Technology's cameras are supplied to Zhiyun Group's C series, A series, SX series and most of Wecoo Electronics' mobile phone models. In addition, it is also supplied to a large number of domestic mobile phone manufacturers. Its market share is also very high, with hundreds of millions of cameras shipped a year, making it one of the top camera manufacturers in China.

In addition to the camera business for various smartphones and other civilian smart terminals, they also have a conventional camera business and have launched their own camera brand, but sales are average.

At the same time, they also undertake lithography machine lens business and other high-precision lens business, such as high-magnification cameras on Zhiyun satellites and high-magnification cameras on small drones.

Nanjiang Technology is a company focusing on the field of optics. Although it is not well-known in the eyes of ordinary people, it is still quite outstanding in the field of optics.

There are only a few manufacturers on this planet that can produce immersion DUV lithography lenses.

And Nanjiang Technology is one of them!

But what is embarrassing is that although Nanjiang Technology’s lithography machine lens business is its core business and its company’s signature business, in fact this business is not very profitable!

It seems that the gross profit margin of hardware is very high, but if the huge R&D investment is taken into account, the profit margin is very low.

The main reason is that the R&D investment is too large and the lithography machine market is small, resulting in low sales of lithography machine lenses. Therefore, it will take time to recover the huge R&D cost investment and production line investment.

This is also the embarrassment of the entire semiconductor equipment and consumables field!
You may say that it is not profitable, but actually it is. The core subsidiary of Fairy Mountain Holdings, namely Gulf Technology, which manufactures lithography machines, actually has very good revenue from its existing business and very good operating profit... It can even be said that it has turned losses into profits.

However, the premise is that the huge initial R&D investment cannot be taken into account. If it is really taken into account, it will take many years to recover the cost.

There is no other way. If you want to catch up with others' technological accumulation of more than ten or twenty years in just a few years, you have to invest a lot of manpower and material resources, and the R&D costs will naturally rise.

Even with this kind of money-spending model, you can't play it just because you have money.

You have to have a scientific research system first, and then a great country... Only then can you talk about investing money and catching up with the technological accumulation of Western countries over ten or twenty years in just a few years. Otherwise, don't even think about it!

If money is enough, the princes of West Asia would have dominated the earth long ago. Why would they have to pay all kinds of protection fees year after year?

When discussing AI chips, the prince said: How many AI chips can 7 trillion US dollars buy? This is an extremely arrogant statement.

The polite answer is that you can buy all the AI ​​chips.

Not giving face means: Get out of here!

Even if they bought all the AI ​​chips, these princes would not be able to come up with any big data models.

So there are many things that cannot be done just by having money.

Including the S17 prototype in front of us, it is quite difficult for other companies to do anything... unless they just do design and assembly.

This S17 prototype, including the S16 series of mobile phones that are already on the market, to some extent represent the most advanced technology on earth today.

Although it only costs a few thousand to just over ten thousand yuan and seems to be just a cheap civilian consumer product, it actually has extremely high technological content.

Every subsystem and every component represents the current most advanced technical level.

Such as the SOC chip S806 used in it, the top-level OLED screen, the third-generation 3D face recognition technology, etc.

Each of them is the most advanced technology at the moment, and behind each of them is a complete industrial chain, which requires rich technology and huge investment.

Behind the OLED screen, a small screen, is a newly built screen production factory. The total investment in this factory alone has reached more than 7 billion US dollars.

Not to mention the S806, which is the most advanced chip of the time and uses a -nanometer process.

"Zhiyun Microelectronics' 806-nanometer process has already completed technical verification at Plant 806. Although the yield rate does not meet the requirements, they are conducting tests on the one hand, and also helping us produce some S chips for preliminary testing on the other hand, so they have also produced a small batch of S chips."

"Boss Xu, this is our S806 chip!"

Xu Shenxue looked at a small chip on the tray in front of him. There were only some miniature marks on the surface, but he couldn't see anything specific.

So he could only read some reports. From these reports, it seems that the S806 chip designed and produced using the 706-nanometer process is much stronger than the S in terms of performance, and the overall performance is expected to increase by about %.

This is also quite difficult.

The total investment in Plant 21, which produces 10-nanometer technology, is more than 6 billion US dollars.

The 10-nanometer process is the limit of what Zhiyun Microelectronics has achieved under existing technical conditions, using an immersion DUV lithography machine and double exposure technology.

Going further, it will be necessary to use quadruple exposure technology to develop chips equivalent to 7nm process... and this technology has a higher manufacturing cost.

Therefore, from the perspective of chip manufacturing costs, especially when using DUV immersion lithography machines, it is most cost-effective to use double exposure technology to produce 14nm process chips. This also includes Zhiyun's 12nm process. After all, Zhiyun's nm process is actually their own second-generation nm process.

Although the chip performance is improved by using the 10-nanometer process, the cost is also increased a lot. If it is not the S series mobile phone that is pushing the limit and pursuing various leading products, there is actually no need to use Zhiyun's equivalent 10-nanometer process chips.

This is also the reason why many of Zhiyun Semiconductor's various chip designs are basically based on the 14-nanometer process and the 12-nanometer process.

As for the 806-nanometer process chips, there are currently only two types. One is the S4 chip used in the S series mobile phones, and the other is the EYQ computing chip used in various vehicles and drone platforms.

Others, including AI training chips, will not adopt this 10-nanometer process for the time being... it's not cost-effective.

At present and even in the next two years, all new AI training chips produced or designed by Zhiyun Group, including its own AI series, will be manufactured using the second-generation 14-nanometer process, which is the 12-nanometer process promoted by Zhiyun.

Other types of chips, computer CPUs, server CPUs, various graphics cards, etc. will also be manufactured using the 12-nanometer process.

At the same time, there are a large number of chips that have been designed and produced using the first-generation 14-nanometer process.

As for some products using the 18-nanometer process, they have been discontinued one after another. This process is also an excessive process with a very low cost-performance ratio.

In the next few years, all types of chips produced by Zhiyun Group, whether for self-use or export, will mainly adopt the 14-nanometer process. Of course, there may be many types of this 14-nanometer process, including the first-generation 14-nanometer process, the second-generation 14-nanometer process (12 nanometers), and then some other variant processes to meet the needs of different types of chips.

As for the more advanced but cost-effective ten-nanometer process, it is destined to be just a transitional process.

Some of Zhiyun Group's advanced chips, such as AI training chips, mobile phone SOC chips, and airborne computing power cards, which have high requirements for process and computing power, are all looking towards the better equivalent seven-nanometer process... Although the cost of that thing will be higher, the performance improvement it brings is large enough, so you can use it with some effort.

This is the embarrassment of not having EUV lithography machines.

If there is an EUV lithography machine, the cost of the equivalent seven-nanometer chip can be reduced. Similarly, the equivalent ten-nanometer process is actually more convenient and less costly to produce using an EUV lithography machine.

Unfortunately, Zhiyun Group cannot obtain the EUV lithography machine for the time being.

Fortunately, TSMC, Intel, Samsung and other semiconductor manufacturers are also unable to obtain EUV lithography machines... ASML of the Netherlands officially announced in November this year: Due to the slow progress of the development of multiple subsystems, the mass production EUV lithography machine scheduled to be delivered next year, that is, the EUV lithography machine that can be used for large-scale mass production of chips, will be further delayed.

Their initial plan is to launch a mass-produced EUV lithography machine in 18.

But in reality, this timetable is only if everything goes well.

But in reality, it is impossible to go smoothly. Zhiyun Group is keeping a close eye on ASML... Whenever there is any progress, all kinds of accidents will occur immediately and problems will arise in the supply chain.

Although there is no evidence and no public reports, everyone who should know knows that it was Zhiyun and his group who did it.

Therefore, ASML actually gave up early on, and the EUV project team is just maintaining a low level of progress... Anyway, selling immersion DUV lithography machines is also very profitable.

As for the EUV lithography machine, just drag it out.

As for when to launch the EUV project on a large scale and enter the mass production mode, we will have to wait until the big conglomerates finish fighting.

Regardless of whether a winner is decided or an agreement is reached, ASML will not be involved until the result comes out.

Otherwise, there would be a very embarrassing situation where the big guys would fight and the ASML engineers would be the ones who died.

The progress of the EUV lithography machine of Gulf Technology under Xu Shenxue is not that fast, and it will take several years before it can be maturely applied.

Therefore, in this era, a number of wafer fabs, including Zhiyun Microelectronics, TSMC, etc., can only continue to use DUV immersion lithography machines to advance the process, achieving 10 nanometers and the equivalent of 7 nanometers.

Even these two companies are still considering using DUV immersion lithography machines to make chips equivalent to five nanometers... Just by listening to this process, you can tell that the yield rate will be alarmingly low and the cost will be very high.

But there is no other way without EUV lithography equipment, so we can only continue to work on it.

From the lithography machine to the wafer fab to the chip design, the entire S17 phone exudes the aura of a top-level industrial product inside and out.

Such top-notch products cannot be produced in another country, let alone another company in the country...the technology is not there.

This is also the core reason why Zhiyun Group’s S series mobile phones can be sold all over the world and are recognized by the vast majority of consumers around the world.

Although there are other messy factors, the core reason is just one: the Zhiyun S series of mobile phones are really awesome!
Each generation of S series mobile phones is the most powerful mobile phone of the same period, far ahead of other mobile phones.

The same is true for the S17 mobile phone. Xu Shenxue is also looking forward to this phone continuing to maintain the sales performance of the S16 series of mobile phones.

Yes, at a time when the market growth rate is almost stagnant, the mobile phone market has entered a stock market, and the competition in the mobile phone market continues to be fierce. The management of Zhiyun Group, including Xu Shenxue, did not expect that the S17 mobile phone next year would have a big breakthrough in sales.

We would be thankful if we could maintain the same sales volume as S16.

It’s not that Xu Shenxue and his people are timid or have low vision, but the market capacity is so big that basically everything that can be harvested has been harvested.

Therefore, whether it is this year's S16 mobile phone or next year's S17 mobile phone, its primary task is no longer to break new sales records, but to maintain market sales as much as possible.

On this basis, we will try to gradually increase the average sales price to obtain more revenue and profits.

This task is actually very difficult.

After all, it is easy to conquer a country, but difficult to keep it!

In the past, when there was an incremental market, it was easy to impact the market, and the sales volume exploded.

But now that we have entered the stock market, if we want to continue to maintain our position as the leader in the mobile phone market, we must always be vigilant.

Otherwise, it will be like Ounuoya back then. It was confused for a year or two and then was taken over by Zhiyun and Fruit, causing the entire mobile phone business to completely collapse.

Zhiyun stepped on the corpse of Ounoya and overwhelmed its two major competitors, Fruit and Four Star, to become the new king of mobile phones in the world.

Now that the crown has been put on, the Zhiyun management led by Xu Shenxue has never thought of giving it up!

For this reason, as the technological innovation of mobile phones has gradually decreased in the past two years, Xu Shenxue in particular has gradually lost some of his prophetic abilities... In a few years, after all the innovative stock of future mobile phone technologies that he knows about has been used up.

Xu Shenxue also doesn’t know how mobile phones will evolve in the future.

In order to continue to ensure the leading position of Zhiyun's mobile phone business in the future, Xu Shenxue has also put in a lot of effort and is prepared to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in all aspects, maintaining high investment in various fields from marketing to product design and technology research and development.

Xu Shenxue needs to find a new path, or major technological innovation, in the next few years to continue to maintain the leading characteristics of Zhiyun's mobile phone business and continue to sweep the world.

It's not easy, but it must be done!

Because this concerns the survival of the entire Zhiyun Group and the survival of the huge industrial chain behind it!
(End of this chapter)